Cleated outsole

ABSTRACT

A CLEATED OUTSOLE HAVING AT ITS INNER SIDE A RAISED PLATFORM LAYER OF SUCH CONFIGURATION AND THICKNESS AS TO FIT INTO AND SUBSTANTIALLY FILL THE CAVITY AT THE BOTTOM OF A WELT LASTED SHOE IN PLACE OF THE CONVENTIONAL FILLING MATERIAL AND A PLURALITY OF CLEATS FIXED TO THE OUTSOLE, EACH CLEAT HAVING A RELATIVELY LARGE HEAD BURIED IN THE RAISED PLATFORM AND A STEM EXTENDING THEREFROM THROUGH THE OUTSOLE AND THROUGH THE THREAD SURFACE THEREOF.

United States Patent Office 3,559,308 CLEATED OUTSOLE Louis E. Bernier, Rockland, and James P. Giblln, Milton, Mass., assignors to E. T. Wright & Co., Inc., Rockland, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 831,373,

June 9, 1969. This application Sept. 17, 1969, Ser. No. 858,740

Int. Cl. A43b 23/28 U.S. Cl. 36-2.5 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cleated outsole having at its inner side a raised platform layer of such configuration and thickness as to lit into and substantially fill the cavity at the bottom of a welt lasted shoe in place of the conventional filling material and a plurality of cleats fixed to the outsole, each cleat having a relatively large head buried in the raised platform and a stem extending therefrom through the outsole and through the tread surface thereof.

BACKGROUND* OF THE INVENTION This application relates to pending applications Ser. No. 727,819 filed May 9, 1968; Ser. No. 734,154 .filed lune 3, 1968; Ser. No. 774,286 filed Nov. 8, 1968; Ser. No. 774,- 382 filed Nov. 8, 1968 and Ser. No. 831,373 filed June 9, 1969; and is a continuation-impart of the last of the aforesaid application. In the applications referred to the cleats were secured to a cleat plate which, in turn, was incorporated in the bottom of a shoe, between the bottom of the lasted upper and the outsole whether the latter was attached by stitching or by molding. In the manufacture of a welt shoe the cleat plate fitted into the cavity at the bottom of the shoe taking the place of the conventional filling material. In the aforesaid application Ser. No. 831,373 it was proposed that for making a welt shoe the cleat plate could be made an integral part of the outsole and this application relates to such an integrated cleated outsole, a shoe embodying a cleated outsole and a mold assembly for making the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cleated outsole for attachment to a welt shoe comprising an upper, insole and welt, said Welt being connected to the upper and insole and being adapted to connect the outsole thereto, said welt defining a cavity at the bottom of the shoe; said outsole comprising a substantially uniformly thick outsole layer having an inner side and an outer side, and an integral raised platform layer at the inner side. The outsole layer corresponds in configuration to and is at least as large as the bottom to which it is to be attached and is of such thickness that in conjunction with the welt provides an edge of the desired thickness. 'The platform layer is symmetrically located with respect to the longitudinally center line of the outsole layer and corresponds substantially in configuration, size, and thickness to the configuration, size and depth of the portion of the cavity at the forepart of the shoe to which the cleated outsole is to be attached. A plurality of metal cleats are molded into the outsole each having a relatively large head buried inthe raised platform layer and a shank extending therefrom through the outsole layer and through the tread surface. The shank tapers at its distal end and contains at said end a hardened tip. Optionally, a reinforcing layer may be incorporated in a platform layer about the heads of the cleats or in the exposed surface of the platform layer.

The invention will now be described in greater detail in reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

3,559,308 Patented Feb. 2., 1971 FIG. 1 is a plan view of the cleated outsole showing at the inner side thereof a raised platform layer;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken longitudinally of FIG. l on the line 2--2;

FIG. 2a is a fragmentary .section of a modified form of the cleated outsole shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section of a shoe embodying the cleated outsole shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through a mold assembly for making the cleated outsole showing a side ring open at the bottom and top, a bottom plate supported for movement through the bottom of the side ring toward the top and a cover plate at the top;

FIG; 5 is a plan view of the lower side of the cover plate of the mold assembly shown in FIG. 4; f

FIG. l6 is an elevation of a cleat of the kind incorporated in the outsole;

FIG. 7 is a transverse section through a cleated outsole provided with a reinforcing layer around the heads of the cleats;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section through a cleated outsole provided with a reinforcing layer at the surface of the platform layer; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the reinforcing layer with cleats inserted through it.

In the manufacture of shoes it is customary to make up what is sometimes called a blocker sole corresponding in configuration and thickness to the sole desired but enough larger so that it can be used in the manufacture of several different sizes by the simple expedient of trimming after it is attached to the shoe bottom. This practice has the advantage that the shoe manufacturer need not keep a stock of sizes for every shoe size and affords the advantage that when the outsole is attached to the shoe any eccentricity may be corrected by trimming.

A premolded blocker type outsole provides an excellent vehicle for incorporating a cleat plate in a welt type shoe since the cleat plate can readily be formed directly to the inner side of the outsole in the form of a raised platform on the inside and the cleats incorporated therein during the operation of molding the outsole. In accordance with the invention the cleated outsole is made to embody several sizes so that after it is attached to the bottom the edge may be trimmed to match the welt, however, it is within the scope of the invention to preform the outsole to size so that no trimming is necessary.

The outsole may in accordance with this invention as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprise an outsole layer 12, a raised platform layer 14 and cleats 16. The outsole layer 12 corresponds substantially in configuration to the bottom of the shoe to which it is to be attached and ernbodies a forepart 18 and heel part 20 and is made large enough so that it may be trimmed after it is applied to the shoe to match the welt. The outsole layer 12 is substantially uniformly thick and the platform layer 14 which is confined to the forepart 18 desirably is located symmetrically within the forepart and corresponds substantially in thickness to the depth of the forepart cavity. The outsole layer and the platform layer are integrally formed by a molding process which will be described hereinafter and during molding a plurality of cleats 16 are incorporated, each cleat FIG. 6 comprising a head 24 of relatively large diameter which is embedded exclusively in the raised platform layer and a shank 26 which extends from the head through the outsole layer and the tread surface thereof, and has at its distal end a hardened tip 28. In the preferred form the shank 26 comprises a first cylindrical portion 30, a first conical portion 32, a second cylindrical portion 34, a second conical portion 36, and a tapered portion 38 in the distal end of which is fixed the hardened tip 28. The first cylindrical portion 30 of each cleat extends from the head in the platform layer into the outsole layer and the first conical portion 32 and second cylindrical portion 34 are located entirely within the outsole layer. The upper part of the second conical portion 36 from substantially the median diameter thereof upwardly is buried in the outsole layer and the lower part is exposed.

The cleated outsole illustrated herein is comprised of compounds of natural or synthetic rubber which are suiciently tough and resistant to displacement to hold the cleats molded into it from being torn out and/or from lateral spreading. Compounds containing hydrocarbon resin, synthetic styrene, and butadiene rubber, together with suitable fillers, curing and aging agents may be used. Nitrile rubbers such as Hycar, manufactured by the B. F. Goodrich Company, may also be employed.

FIG. 3 illustrates the cleated outsole attached to a welt lasted shoe comprising an upper 40, an insole 42, and a welt 44. The welt 44 is attached at its inner edge to the marginal edges of the upper and insole all the way around the bottom by means of stitching and forms at the bottom a recess 46. Normally, the recess 46 is filled with a filling material, such as a mastic of ground cork, to the level of the underside of the welt strip so as to provide a flat surface for the outsole.

In accordance with this invention the filling material is omitted and the raised platform layer 14 is made of such size and thickness as to nearly completely till the cavity 46 and thus to replace the conventional lling material.

The outsole layer is made large enough for the largest shoe of a given range of sizes for example three sizes and the platform layer is made small enough to fit into the cavity at the bottom of the smallest of the range so that the cleated outsole may be applied by fitting the platform layer into the cavity at the bottom of any one of the shoes in the range, attaching the edge of the outsole layer to the welt by stitching or cementing and then trimming the edge to match the welt. Adhesives may be applied to the surface of the platform layer and at the inner surface of the cavity.

The cleated outsole is preferably made by compression molding in a mold assembly as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The mold assembly comprises a ring 48 open at the bottom and top, the inner side of which corresponds in configuration to the profile of the outsole to be made, a bottom plate 50 supported for movement through the open bottom of the ring toward the top thereof and a cover plate 52 adapted to be held against the open top of the ring. The cover plate 52 FIG. 5 contains at its inner side a cavity 54 located at the forepart of the mold, corresponds in configuration and depth to the raised platform layer which is to be formed at the inner side of the outsole layer. To support the cleats in position for molding, the bottom plate is provided with a plurality of holes 56. The upper end of each hole 56 is larger in diameter than the second conical portion 36 so that a cleat placed in the hole is supported with the portion thereof below the median diameter of the second conical portion in the hole 56 and the portion above the median diameter above the bottom plate. The upper edge of the hole 56 may be right angular in section or may be slightly beveled.

In making a cleated outsole a suitable number of cleats 16 are mounted in the holes 56 in the bottom plate 50, the cover plate 52 is applied to the top of the ring 48 and the bottom plate 50 is raised to a position such that the heads of the cleats are situated within the cavity 54 in the cover plate 52. To make sure that the cleats are seated properly in the holes 56 and are held firmly during the molding operation the inner surface of the cover plate 52 is provided at appropriate places opposite the heads of the cleats in the bottom plate with slender hold down pins 58 which are easily withdrawn from the finished outsole after the molding operation.

A biscuit of material of which the cleated outsole is to be made is dropped into the mold cavity prior to closing and then by application of heat and pressure caused to flow throughout the mold cavity between the bottom plate and the cover plate and to completely embed the portions of the cleats above the upper surface of the bottom plate.

While the invention is preferably practiced with respect to making the blocker type outsoles, it is within the scope of the invention to make cleated outsoles to size.

The edge face of the platform layer shown in FIGS. l and 2 is right angular in vertical section, however, it may be beveled as shown in FIG. 2a to enable more easily fitting it into the bottom cavity and to compensate for minor irregularities in the cavity.

The platform layer 14 may also be stitfened or reinforced `without making it undesirably rigid so as to resist tearing of the heads of the cleats therefrom or tilting of the heads of the cleats therein by incorporating in the platform layer during the molding operation one or more layers of fabric 60 of, for example, coarse mesh burlap or a basket weave Fiberglas fabric as shown in FIG. 7. The fabric 60 may be incorporated below the heads of the cleats or above the heads of the cleats or above and below. In addition to reinforcement the fabric especially if impregnated with a stiffening compound such as resin has a further practical advantage in that the cleats may be inserted into the fabric in the proper location with respect to each other and the fabric used as a vehicle for transporting the cleats into the mold. A resin impregnated Fiberglas fabric cut to shape is especially suitable for this purpose.

Optionally, the fabric layer 60 may be molded into the exposed surface of the platform layer as shown in FIG. 8 and when applied in this fashion provides an irregular somewhat rough surface adapted to receive adhesive or cement without need for roughing the surface.

The upper surface of the bottom plate 50 may contain conical depressions around the upper ends of the holes 56 therein such as shown in the aforementioned applications and provided with contrasting embossing to impart a pleasing appearance to the exposed tread surface of the outsole.

A cleated heel, formed by supporting cleats in the bottom plate of a mold assembly, comprising a side ring, bottom plate containing holes and cover plate within which the bottom forming material is caused to flow about the heads of the cleats, is attached by suitable means to the heel end of the sole prior to or following attachment of the latter to the bottom of the shoe.

We claim:

1. For attachment to a welt shoe embodying an upper, insole and welt, said welt being connected to the upper and insole, and adapted to connect the outsole thereto, said welt defining a cavity at the bottom; a cleated outsole comprising a substantially uniformly thick outsole layer having an inner side and an outer side, said outsole layer corresponding in configuration to the bottom of the shoe to which it is to be attached, an integral platform layer at the inner side corresponding substantially in configuration and thickness to the configuration and depth of the portion of the cavity at the forepart of the shoe and a plurality of' metal cleats each having a head molded into the platform layer and a shank extending therefrom through the outsole layer and through the outer side thereof, said shank tapering at its distal end and containing at said end a hardened tip.

2. A cleated outsole according to claim 1, wherein the outsole layer is large enough to fit the largest of a range of three sizes and the platform layer is small enough to fit into the cavity at the bottom of the smallest of the three sizes.

3. A cleated outsole according to claim l, wherein the edge face of the platform layer is beveled.

4. A cleated outsole according to claim 1, wherein a reinforcing layer is incorporated in the platform layer at the heads of the cleats.

5. A cleated outsole according to claim 1, wherein a reinforcing layer is incorporated in the platform layer at the exposed surface thereof.

6. A cleated outsole according to claim 1, wherein the cleats have conical portions intermediate their heads and tapered portions and are so positioned in the outsole that heads are situated entirely in the platform layer and the conical portions above the median diameter are in the outsole layer and below the median diameter exposed.

7.` A golf shoe comprising an upper, insole, welt and outsole, said welt being stitched at its inner edge to the margins of the upper and insole and at its outer edge to the outsole, characterized in that the outsole comprises integrally formed outsole and platform layers, said outsole layer corresponding in configuration to the profile of the welt and being situated below the plane of the underside of the welt and said platform layer corresponding in configuration to the welt cavity and substantially `filling the cavity above the plane of the lower side of the ywelt and a plurality of cleats set into said outsole, each cleat comprising a head, a shank and a tapered tip, with the head located exclusively in the platform layer, the shank extending therefrom through the outsole layer and the tapered tip exposed at the lower side of the outsole layer.

8. A golf shoe according to claim 7, -wherein there is a conical shoulder at the junction of the shank and the tapered portion of each cleat and the cleats are set into the outsole with the portions thereof above the median diameter of the conical portions in the outsole and the portions below said median diameter exposed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,878,523 3/1959 Hardy 18--59 3,010,229 11/ 1961 Snitzer 36-2.5 3,302,227 2/1967 Bente 12-142 3,343,285 9/1967 Kowal 36-67 3,486,249 12/ 1969 Bernier et al. 36-67 3,492,744 2/ 1970 Bernier et al. 36e-59 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 36-59 

